Expert meeting to focus on infrastructure services and supportive regulations

22 febrero 2013

Transport, telecommunications, and energy are among “infrastructure services” that play a vital role in economic growth. From 25 to 26 February, experts will discuss how developing countries can set up rules and institutions that help ensure such services.

Practitioners and academics from developed and developing countries will seek to identify “best-fit practices” at the levels of policymaking, regulations, institutions, and trade negotiations that link services, trade, and development in a balanced manner.

That is because ISS fosters productivity growth in economic activities that use infrastructure-related services as inputs. These activities contribute directly and indirectly to growth, income generation, and higher living standards.

Weak ISS, on the other hand, often hampers the development of other economic sectors, including services sectors, particularly in least developed countries and small and vulnerable economies.

ISS also assumes an important social function, as it ensures access to basic services (including electricity and safe drinking water), enhances financial inclusion, and helps bridge the “digital divide.” It is thus considered important for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

For infrastructure services to contribute successfully to the economic and social development of a country, the regulatory environment must be supportive. The challenge is to design appropriate regulations. Recurrent failed attempts to do so indicate the inherent difficulty of the undertaking.

Experience has revealed that no “one-size-fits-all” model exists for addressing such regulatory and institutional challenges. Moreover, regulatory reform often is an incremental process. The review of best practices for building proper regulatory and institutional frameworks catering to the specific needs of individual countries is considered a helpful way to proceed.